Dinosaur tracks discovered in southwest Arkansas, about 120 million years old (Photo)

A supposed set of dinosaur tracks was reportedly discovered recently in southwest Arkansas, as shown in the photo below, which was said to be covering about two football fields.

Dinosaur tracks in ArkansasImage Credit: UArk.edu

As noted by University of Arkansas on their official website on Wednesday, October 5, 2011, their researchers are currently studying a new field of fossilized dinosaur tracks.

According to the report, the track site contains dinosaur footprints and researchers noted that those that measure about 2 feet long and 1 foot wide could be from Acrocanthosaurus atokensis.

The giant creature was noted to have roamed the earth 120 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period and being considered as one of the largest predators ever to walk the planet.

“The quality of the tracks and the length of the trackways make this an important site,” Project leader Stephen K. Boss was quoted on the report, whose project being funded by the National Science Foundation.

“Picture an environment much like that of the shores of the Persian Gulf today. The air temperature was hot. The water was shallow and very salty,” Boss added, noting that dinosaurs were there in huge numbers.

Apparently, the tracks site also contains the giant prints of sauropods, large, long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs such as Pleurocoelus and Paluxysaurus, while other prints are still to be identified.

Meanwhile, the dinosaur footprints were said to have been discovered using two different instruments that helped the researchers in mapping the site; a Z+F Imager 5006i and a Leica ScanStation C10.

The Z+F Imager is a phase-based scanner that releases a fixed beam of laser light, which is swept across the landscape to measure and record up to 500,000 points per second.

On the other hand, the second device is being used to record an overview of the site from the ridge above and through its scanner; it incorporates discrete pulses of laser light and each of them is being recorded.